Employment in the Headlines: Manicurist wage and hour violations and litigation
Employment law and FLSA violations are in the headlines this week, due to a New York Times multi-part expose on manicurist employment conditions. More than 150 nail salon workers and owners were interviewed, from a few of the more than 17,000 nail salons in the US.
Employment journalist Claire Gordon puts it in plain terms, “If you’ve ever received a speedy $10 manicure, there’s a good chance that the woman who buffed your nails was paid less than minimum wage, denied overtime, and suffered emotional abuse.”
The nail salon industry grew over 370 percent between 1995 and 2005. Approximately 95 percent of the US’s 380,000 nail technicians are women, and 59 percent are women of color.
Claims of employment violations in the salon industry are not new. In 2007 the New York Times reported that nail salon “owners often force employees to work 60 hours a week while failing to pay overtime or allow lunch breaks.” Last year, the New York State Labor Department investigated 29 salons and cited 116 wage violations.
Salon employees fall under the personal services industry, and are subject to Wage Order 2-2001 which requires pay for overtime work, meal periods, rest breaks, and compensation that meets minimum wage standards. Many salons, however label employees ‘independent contractors’ to avoid paying an hourly wage, and offer only compensation based on a percentage of the money paid by customers for the services they provide.
Erin Mindoro, an attorney at Berger Kahn, explains that “this strategy can result in significant potential liability, including possible exposure to class action lawsuits.” She argues that across all states, the main theme of identifying workers as contractors or employees is ‘control’. If a business controls the work schedule, the pay rate and the work product, the workers are likely employees.
The New York Times article touches briefly on nail salon lawsuits filed in New York and the allegations in those cases. We’ll take a look at four additional examples of nail salon litigation in the following paragraphs.
A notable case in this industry was Susan Kim’s suit, because she was awarded more damages than the amount she sued for. Kim is a Korean-American who was a nail salon employee for 16 years who sued for $150,000 in back pay, overtime wages and damages. The jury awarded $182,000 for unpaid overtime and wage, and pain and suffering.
A 2012 nationwide class action lawsuit on behalf of 13 salon workers accused their airport salon employer of systematic labor law violations. Allegations in the suit included 10+ hour work days without lunch or bathroom breaks; less than minimum wage compensation; no overtime pay; misclassification resulting in the denial of benefits.
The claim additionally mentioned that due to the cosmetic industry regulating itself since laws have not been updated since 1938, employees must work with toxic products that have been linked to cancer and reproductive problems. Three ingredients many nail products contain, toluene, formaldehyde and dibutyl phythalate, have been linked to cancer and reproductive problems.
A chain of Long Island nail salons was ordered to pay $250,000 to six former employees, who are Chinese immigrants, for unpaid wages and overtime. They were paid below minimum wage, violating the FLSA and New York labor law, and they worked in an abusive work environment.
Finally, Perma Sherpa, a Nepali-immigrant nail salon worker settled for an undisclosed amount to resolve a claim in which she alleged her employer denied her overtime, made her purchase her own tools at inflated prices from her employer, and work in a hostile work environment. Requiring an employee to purchase her own tools equates to illegal salary deductions. When she objected to the work conditions and verbal abuse to her employer, she was physically assaulted and her employment was terminated the next day.
Relevant reading:
Visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics ‘Occupational Outlook’ for manicurists and pedicurists.
Learn more about how damages are calculated in wage and hour employment cases from economic expert Dr. Dwight Steward.
Read the complaint from De Ping Song, et al. v. Babi Nail
